So You Want To Skip Muster Drill???

[werdisney]

On our recent cruise , the drill was so unorganized . No one asked our cabin number or name . My party was all spread out along the wall . We never miss this but no one would have known if we had . Carnival needs to do a better job

[Rottweiler Puppy]

On our recent cruise , the drill was so unorganized . No one asked our cabin number or name . My party was all spread out along the wall . We never miss this but no one would have known if we had . Carnival needs to do a better job

 

Sounds like the muster on the Liberty last year. Our spot was next to the intakes and couldn't hear a word they were saying. No one asked who we were or anything. Pretty unorganized and didn't feel confident in going there even if we had to. Muster was easy and painless, but perhaps too easy.

 

I told the girlfriend we were getting of the ship if there was a problem even if we had to hop off the front which was by our rooms. We had 4j cabins

[askimdog]

Except for the crowds, it is a pain in the a**, but think of it this way....it is something offered on the ship that is FREE.

 

 

:)

[Thoth]

Don't know if this was previously posted, but someone (HAL) is getting serious. Works for me.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1561485

two words...COSTA CONCORDIA.

I'm going to pay special attention at muster drill from now on !

[med9114u]

I personally get annoyed at the drunks that are there and do not pay attention anyways, they are the people that will be in a panic when a real emergency does hit (provided they are not drunk then too). If alcohol wasn't such a big income for the cruise lines, I think they should wait until AFTER muster to start selling it. I know it will NEVER happen, but would like to go to just 1 muster drill and not have people vomitting because they are drunk already.

[zqvol]

Geez, I never thought about doing that, but being in the back row, it's hard for those who show up late to hear me.

 

 

 

Sorry, but I have felt this way for a long time. Should some emergency occur, those who didn't go to the drill could make my exit more difficult. Good try though.

 

 

 

I agree with you. On Royal Caribbean they have people take attendance and anything that does so works for mel.

 

 

Your bigger problem is not people who didn't go to the drill, it is the fact that 35% of the ship is too drunk to remember where to go. They will slow you down more than others, but getting to your muster station quickly is not an issue. If the ship is going down so fast that you have less than an hour to get there you are going to be having bigger problems than getting to your muster station.

 

Good try though, unfortunately it isn't good enough.

[pjhootch]

We were on the victory 2 weeks ago and I have to say it was the least organized muster drill I've ever seen. It took forever for people to show up and wander in, and the crew that was trying to organize everyone was frustrated and had no control over anyone. My husband and I were making comments to each other about how lots of folks would be screwed if our captain decided to hit an island.

 

We always go to the muster drill and kind of sort of pay attention. How much attention do you need to pay once you know how to put on a life jacket and where your station is? On the other hand, we don't talk or cause a distraction either, because we want it over with as quickly as possible.

 

The muster drill just isn't very helpful overall, but to hide from it or drag it out by trying to ignore it and delaying others is just stupid.

[Aplmac]

I personally get annoyed at the drunks that are there and do not pay attention anyways,

they are the people that will be in a panic when a real emergency does hit (provided they are not drunk then too).

 

If alcohol wasn't such a big income for the cruise lines, I think they should wait until AFTER muster to start selling it.

 

I know it will NEVER happen, but would like to go to just 1 muster drill and not have people vomiting because they are drunk already.

The intoxication factor you refer to is a bigger problem that anyone wants to admit to.

 

 

Don't be so sure that it'll never happen that alcohol gets restricted until after muster drill.

This suggestion has been brought up before and I'm sure it has been taken note of! ;)

 

Sooner or later it will happen: no alcohol until after muster drill

.

[Aplmac]

We were on the Victory 2 weeks ago

and I have to say it was the least organized muster drill I've ever seen.

It took forever for people to show up and wander in,

and the crew that was trying to organize everyone was frustrated and had no control over anyone.

Sunday night? -at San Juan? Islanders? Fill-the-boat fares? :)

.

[crustysam]

We have both served our time in the Navy. While I believe a muster drill is important and necessary sadly on our last cruise we didn't even stay for the whole thing. They crammed twice as many people as capacity should have been into some bar or disco area and played a video and talked a bit- but you couldn't hear them over all the crammed in people talking and laughing and drinking. We both have worn life jackets (which weren't provided even as a prop at the drill, are proficient in inflating whatever clothing we have on should we go overboard and can do the dead mans float for hours. There were fks in whhel chairs who couldn't fit in the venue so a few of us backed out to make room for them. Then we were completely out in the hallway and couldn't see or hear anything. So we gave up and went back to stateroom and not one crew member gave so much as a look. I was honestly disappointed for selfish reasons- I wanted a pic us us in wedding clothes wearing life jackets. To this day I could not even guess where our muster station was.

[mzloolue]

You're kidding, right? The instructions AND LOCATION of your muster station is on the back of your cabin door and within reaching distance to your life vests. Everyone should take a good look at it while there is light in your cabin. You just might not be able to take a look if the lights go out.

 

I do look at the information on the back of the door.

 

But reading the back of the door really does not have anything to do with going to the muster drill.

[CanadaJulie]

Muster drill is a Coast Guard requirement - so we go because we have to. But I honestly beleive that we will not learn anything there that will help us in the case of an emergency - it is a big waste of time, especially the part about waiting for others...

 

The instruction on how to put a life vest on are actually ON the life vest. The directions to your muster station are 1) on the back of your door, 2)on the actual life vest and 3) on your S&S card. Take a minute and read this, practice putting on the vest and adjust the straps to your size, take the family and actually GO to your station, make a mental note of which way to turn when you leave the cabin and how many doors down to the exit in case you need to do this in the dark. You will be way ahead of most people if the worst were to happen...

 

Muster drill gives the "illusion of safety". People think: "I have been to the drill, ergo I know what to do in an emergency". Ummm.. nope... in a real emergency, you may end up having to change the plan - your muster station is under water, there is a fire on that side... you're gonna have to improvise... Add to that the alcohol factor that some have mentioned and panic and who knows what would really happen...

 

Bodies on the Concordia were found wearing life jackets... were they trying to get to their station under water ? Did they panic and go the wrong way ? Did they not understand the emergency and need to get above the water line ? Who knows...

 

"You" are the one most important element when it comes to your safety. Don't put all your faith in the useless muster drill... But do go, be quiet, don't show up late - cause we all want to get the cruise started !